


Linnet Bird

by RobberBaroness



Series: Birdsong [2]
Category: Sweeney Todd (2007)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen, Music, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 00:40:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17735717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobberBaroness/pseuds/RobberBaroness
Summary: She could buy and play her very own music, now.





	Linnet Bird

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MiloFindsSatisfaction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiloFindsSatisfaction/gifts).



> "The common linnet's pleasant song contains fast trills and twitters."- Wikipedia

Johanna bought her first personal, private sheet of music in the company of her husband.  She’d learned to read the notes well enough to play the piano, back when her guardian had thought to keep and train her as a private porcelain doll, but it had never been her own choice as to the music she played.  But when she and Anthony passed by a music-seller, she impulsively bought a sheet of music from the Magic Flute- something she would never be able to truly sing, but which she was happy to at least try.

 

She would sit with the notes and hum them in her head, or even risk a slightly off-key rendition when performing household chores.  It pleased her to think of how her singing opera would have infuriated her guardian, even on her own- he’d often made it plain that all actresses, from the grand opera to the music hall, were whores.  He was himself one to talk of such a thing, Johanna had often thought to herself (she saw more than he thought she did) but she would have died of fright before speaking it aloud.

 

But she needed no approval to love what she loved now.  She could love a sailor boy, and occasionally being alone to her own devices with total freedom to roam, and the children she took in, and she could even love music.  If she heard a performer striking up a haunting melody, she could find a copy of her sheet music and practice quietly for her own simple joy. And though they had no piano, Johanna saved every month to buy one, a beautiful thing of her very own.

 

Joy was no sin.  Music was no sin.  Rebellion was no sin.  It had been worth waiting what seemed a lifetime to fully accept that.

> 


End file.
